It's been a long blogging hiatus. I hit another detour in my comeback in late December and January (vacation and post vacation flu-ish thing) that kept me out of the water for quite awhile. But I've been training pretty regularly since mid-January. In the pool that is; I've not been moved to return to the gym because of a wee treadmill addiction. Anyhoo, I took myself off to the Albatross meet with about 6 weeks training under my belt and a mini taper. After a 1.5 year racing hiatus, I had major racing rust and of course was way off my PRs.

50 back SCM, 32.1

I had an uncharacteristically mediocre start, which lacked explosiveness. I had a good first length and decent turn. I was a little deep on my underwater on the second length. The main issue though was that I couldn't really feel my arms/they didn't want to move the last 10 yards. I had a major glide at the end because I just couldn't summon the energy to take another stroke. That cost me going a 31. Still, I am content with a 32 after the VTOS debacle and given my still closed veins. That time would have been #1 in the world last year in my age group.

50 free SCM, 29.5

I had a pretty good start (feet not together tho) and first length. I botched the turn a bit with a half stroke and extra breath. I tried the Lochte turn off the wall. It went decently, but again I was a little too deep. Then I just staggered to the wall again with arm fatigue. Since all the youngsters scratched, I ended up winning the Fastest Woman on the Water award.

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Whew, it was good to survive my first meet back. I think it being SCM not SCY added a degree of difficulty for me. Aside from some limitations from the VTOS, I think my main problem in the pool right now is that I lack strength. I had a ton of muscle removed from my chest of course. But I'm also not getting as much DPK as before. So off to the gym I go! I plan to start in small 30 minute chunks.